Online Market World
In agrarian cultures, the fall is the time for harvest, and prepping for the calmer winter times, when work happens inside the home. In the world of information, that sort of ebb and flow doesn’t happen to the same degree. However, once summer is over, it seems that people get back to the serious business of looking at their work. Calls and efforts seem to re-double after Labor Day here in the US, tough questions get asked, launched happen, new products get ideated, and then someone has to measure the success of those efforts.
Throughout that cycle, research plays a role. Insights can provide a creative spark to the ideation process, or explain unmet consumer needs at the beginning of the product cycle. During the development process, researchers can help figure out what ways a program or product might be evaluated. After launch, research helps to measure initial and long term success.
At Ask.com we do a fair amount of qualitative research, mixed in with click stream and quantitative data, used in each of these ways. Recently, in preparation for Online Market World, I recorded a podcast discussing some of these items. You can check out some more specifics as to particular research programs and their application.
I’ll be speaking at Online Market World October 3rd on the topic of Social Media Metrics with the esteemed Jim Sterne, Todd Parsons from BuzzLogic and Esther Lim from Crimson Consulting. Each of the panelists brings a different perspective, mine being that of a marketing organization evaluating the effectiveness of various programs.